Captivate Group
Human Resources Director
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Location: London (Shoreditch). Hybrid (2WFH, 3WFO)
Salary: £70,000–£80,000 + benefits
Reporting to: CEO
Works closely with: Agency Managing Directors, Operations Directors and Group Finance Director
Captivate is a growing group of specialist marketing services agencies. We are looking for a Group HR Director to build and lead our People function as the group continues to scale. This is a role with two equally important sides.
We need someone who brings rigour and technical HR expertise, someone who makes sure our foundations are right, our managers are properly supported and our businesses are well governed.
We also want a modern, people-first leader who understands that great businesses are built by attracting talented people, integrating them brilliantly, developing them and creating an environment in which they can do their best work.
You need to be comfortable doing both.
Role
You will lead the central HR function across Captivate, reporting directly to the CEO and working closely with the Managing Directors, Operations Directors and Finance Director within our group. You will establish the group-wide frameworks, standards and foundations upon which the agencies will build their individual teams and culture.
Our model deliberately gives our agencies ownership of their people and culture. The job of the Group HR Director is therefore not to centralise everything. Instead, you will provide the expertise, advice and oversight that allow our agency leaders to make better people decisions.
Part one. HR expertise, governance and rigour
You will be the group's senior HR expert and a trusted adviser to our leadership teams. You will:
- Provide high-quality HR and employment-law advice to our Managing Directors and senior leaders.
- Lead on complex employee relations matters, organisational change, and other higher-risk HR issues.
- Keep the group ahead of changes in UK employment law and ensure those changes are translated into practical action.
- Own and continually improve our HR policies, employee handbooks and people frameworks.
- Ensure our HR practices are consistent, proportionate and legally robust.
- Own our HR tech stack and ensure we have accurate, useful people data.
- Establish appropriate HR reporting and dashboards for the group and its agencies.
- Develop frameworks around areas including performance management, reward, progression and succession.
- Manage and develop the central HR team as the group grows.
- Work closely with Finance and Operations to ensure our people plans support the commercial needs of the businesses.
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You don't need to be an employment lawyer, but you should have genuine technical depth in HR and be confident dealing with difficult and occasionally complex situations.
We would ideally expect you to be CIPD qualified or have equivalent formal HR training, and we want someone committed to continuing their professional development.
Part two. Talent and people
The other half of the job is about helping us build better teams. Our approach is built around three areas:
Talent Acquisition
Recruitment itself sits primarily within our agencies. Your job is to make them brilliant at it. You will create the group-wide hiring frameworks, tools and standards that help our managers identify and select great people.
That includes areas such as interview methodology, assessment, hiring processes, scorecards, salary and offer governance and, importantly, training our managers to become better interviewers and hiring managers.
Talent Integration
Hiring someone is only the beginning. You will develop the framework for how people join our businesses and become effective quickly. You will establish the principles, tools and measurement around onboarding and integration, while working with each agency to make sure the experience reflects its individual culture.
You will train managers so that good people management happens throughout the organisation rather than being outsourced to HR. You will build an environment of psychological safety.
Talent Development
You will help us create an organisation where people can continue to learn and develop. We think about learning as T-shaped. The Group HR Director owns the broad horizontal foundations – the capabilities that we believe great managers and employees need regardless of which Captivate agency they work within.
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Our individual agencies own the deep vertical expertise specific to their disciplines. You will build the group-wide learning framework, identify common development needs, establish programmes and partners, and help our agencies build their own specialist learning around it.
You will also lead our approach to succession planning and help our leadership teams identify and develop the people capable of becoming the next generation of leaders across the group. You will also help the MDs to build their own development pathways
The person
You must have worked within marketing services.
Experience within a scale-up or rapidly growing entrepreneurial business would be particularly valuable.
You are likely to be someone who:
- Has operated at HR Director, Head of HR, Head of People, Senior HR Business Partner or equivalent level.
- Has strong technical HR knowledge.
- Is CIPD qualified or has comparable professional HR training.
- Understands the realities of agency businesses.
- Is commercially minded.
- Can advise and challenge Managing Directors while maintaining their trust.
- Is an excellent communicator who can connect with people at every level of an organisation.
- Listens well and approaches people issues with empathy, judgement and pragmatism.
- Can create frameworks without creating unnecessary bureaucracy.
- Is comfortable being hands-on as well as strategic.
- Can lead and develop an HR team as the organisation grows.
In summary
Captivate isn't trying to create a large centralised corporate HR department. Our agencies retain ownership of their individual cultures and the day-to-day execution of their people plans, through their Managing Directors and Operations Directors.
The Group HR Director provides the framework, expertise, challenge and support around them. That means this role requires someone who can influence rather than instruct; who can introduce rigour without bureaucracy; and who can balance commercial discipline with being genuinely people-first.
If you have spent your career combining those two things – particularly within the agency world – we'd love to hear from you.
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